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Who is Adult?

The term adult is also difficult define because it varies from one society

to another, and has changed over time. The boundaries that determine

who is considered an adult can depend on actions (i.e., legal age to fight

in a war, drive a car, drink, vote), activities (i.e., age that one can begin

to work), and/or responsibilities (i.e., marriage age, age to begin

supporting family). Ibeh (2008) see an adult as one who has achieved

full physical development and is expected to have the right to participate

as a responsible homemaker, worker and member of a society.

Legally, adulthood means that one can engage in a contract. The same

or a different minimum age may be applicable to, for example, parents

losing parenting rights and duties regarding the person concerned,

parents losing financial responsibility, marriage, voting, having a job,

serving in the military, buying/possessing firearms, driving, traveling

abroad, involvement with alcoholic beverages, smoking, sexual activity,

gambling, being a prostitute or a client of a prostitute, being a model or

actor in pornography, running for President etc. Admission of a young

person to a place may be restricted because of danger for that person,

concern that the place may lead the person to immoral behavior or
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because of the risk that the young person causes damage (for example,

at an exhibition of fragile items).

The legal definition of entering adulthood usually varies between ages

1621, depending on the region in question. Some cultures in Africa

define adulthood at age 13.

Q2 What is the implication of the definition of an adult for the

organization of adult education in Nigeria?

Adult education, also known as continuing education, is a broad term for

the practice of teaching and educating adults. It plays a significant part in

the lifelong learning. Unlike education for children and young adults,

which is often mandated through legislation and strictly structured into

steadily advancing levels of achievement, adult education can be broken

into several different fields of specialization: Vocational education,

personal enrichment, and, for some adults, remedial training in literacy

and other skills. The techniques and tools for adult education are also

very different from education for children, reflecting the different abilities,

motivations, and needs of these students.

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Different definitions have been proposed over the years. The broadest

and most frequently cited definition was developed by UNESCO (United

Nations Educational, Social, Cultural Organization) and formally

approved in 1976. It states:

...the entire body of organized educational processes, whatever the

content, level and method, whether formal or otherwise, whether

they prolong or replace initial education in schools, colleges and

universities as well as in apprenticeship, whereby persons

regarded as adult by the society to which they belong develop their

abilities, enrich their knowledge, improve their technical or

professional qualifications or turn them in a new direction and bring

about changes in their attitudes or behaviour in the twofold

perspective of full personal development and participation in

balanced and independent social, economic and cultural

development...

UNESCO, Recommendation on the Development of Adult

Education, published in Canada (Ottawa: Canadian

Commission for UNESCO, 1980 [1976]) p.3.

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Adult education is concerned not with preparing people for life, but rather

with helping people to live more successfully. Thus if there is to be an

overarching function of the adult education enterprise, it is to assist

adults to increase competence, or negotiate transitions, in their social

roles (worker, parent, retiree etc.), to help them gain greater fulfilment in

their personal lives, and to assist them in solving personal and

community problems. (Darkenwald and Merriam 1982: 9)

Darkenwald and Merriam combine three elements. Adult education is

work with adults, to promote learning for adulthood. Approached via an

interest in goals, adult education could involve work with children so

that they may become adult. As Lindeman (1926: 4) put it: This new

venture is called adult education not because it is confined to adults but

because adulthood, maturity, defines its limits.

While there are many different types of adult education, most would fall

under one of the four categories below.

Vocational/professional: Perhaps the bulk of adult education

worldwide is vocational or professional relateda multi-faceted type of

adult education. Adults with little to no marketable job skills or

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experience may attend vocational education programs at community

colleges, technical colleges, and even at universities, where they can

earn certificates or degrees in technical or manual professions. These

types of programs are popular in both developed and developing

countries, as these skills are in demand everywhere. Adults may also

attend these programs out of a desire to change careers and perhaps

find a field of work in which they can be more successful.

With technology becoming a major factor in the global economy,

continued education for those already employed has become popular, as

it is seen as giving older workers with less experience in regards to

emerging technology opportunities to compete in a younger, more

experienced job market.

Outside of the technological fields, some licensed professions, such as

education and health, require follow-up classes every few years to

maintain licensing.

Many businesses promote, and even require, employees to attend

workshops or seminars to improve their productivity, skills, and

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knowledge. These seminars can be on a range of topics, from methods

to improve performance, team building and effective management, to

industry trends and updates.

Education for family and society: Adult physical education includes

everything from health improvement to personal achievement. Yoga,

aerobics, personal fitness lessons, sports activities, and martial arts are

just a few of the examples. These are often taught at local gymnasiums

or health clubs, or at small centers devoted to a particular practice. They

can be both community sponsored and free to adults, or they can be

businesses that charge for classes. Physical education for adults also

includes outdoor activities, such as camping, boating, fishing, hunting,

and extreme sports.

Adult education for cultural betterment runs the gamut from classes and

workshops involving cooking, dancing, fine and performing arts,

meditating, and learning a foreign language. Classes may provide

information about other cultures and traditions that may or may not be

used in everyday life (such as different cooking styles); sometimes the

mere experience fulfills the participants' goals.

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Remedial: Social movements have emerged since the middle of the

twentieth century to help adults with little to no education. Most often this

takes the form of literacy. Even in the industrialized world there are a

high number of illiterate adults who struggle to perform daily functions,

find employment, and act as productive citizens. Often times community

volunteers and government outreach programs provide free reading and

writing classes to adults.

While illiteracy is perhaps the most significant issue, there are other

essential skills that are often taught to adults in order to help them

remain productive citizens. How to manage personal finances, making a

resume and applying for a job, and personal organization are a few of

the basic skills that are often taught to adults in remedial education.

Adult learning styles: As the education of adults has developed so has

an awareness of the differences between children and adults as

learners. Pedagogy, the "art or science of teaching children," is primarily

teacher-directed instruction. The teacher, or an administrative group of

adults, has responsibility to decide when, how, and what will be taught

and to assess whether it has been satisfactorily learned. This is a

teaching and learning situation that places dependency on the instructor.

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The application of the pedagogical model to adult education is a

contradiction in terms. Adults are by definition older and more mature

than the children pedagogy refers to. Adults are thus more independent,

responsible for their own actions, and self-motivated. The pedagogical

model does not account for these differences and may produce tension,

resentment, and resistance in adult learners.[9] The development of

"andragogy" as an alternative model of instruction has improved this

situation.

"Andragogy refers to the process of engaging adult learners in the

structure of the learning experience. The term was originally used by the

German educator Alexander Kapp in 1833, and was later developed into

a theory of adult education by the American educator, Malcolm Knowles.

Knowles believed that it was crucial to acknowledge the differences

between how children and adults learn. Knowles' work (most notably the

book Self-Directed Learning: A Guide for Learners and Teachers,

published in 1975) has been controversial. To some, his proposed

system states the obvious, to others, he has merely proposed an

adaptation of existing child-learning theories.

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One of the most important differences that Knowles recognized was that

adults have accumulated knowledge and experience which can either

add value to a learning experience or hinder it. Whereas children,

especially when they are younger, often are most adaptable to situations

and are naturally more inclined to absorb information, adults tend to

have ingrained behaviors and personalities that are firmly established.

While this means that their self awareness is greater and ability to focus,

rationalize, and apply new information may be greater than that of a

child, it can also mean sometimes that adults can be more resistant to

new modes of thinking and behaving.

Q3 Critically examine three criteria to be considered in the

definition of adulthood and see how this definition can help in the

promotion of adult education programme.

Maturity is a critical element in the definition of adulthood, hence, we

must recognize that education is the most potent vehicle to bring about

this kind of transformation. And, for adults who have not been privilege

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to obtain these abilities, then adult education must be geared towards

achieving these objectives.

The Recommendation on the Development of Adult Education supports

these type of activities by saying, that the aims of adult education should

be to contribute to developing a critical understanding of major

contemporary problems and social changes and the ability to play an

active part in the progress of society with a view to achieving social

justice; developing the aptitude for acquiring, either individually, in

groups or in the context of organized study in educational

establishments specially set up for this purpose, new knowledge,

qualifications, attitudes or forms of behaviour conducive to the full

maturity of the personality; ensuring the individuals conscious and

effective incorporation into working life by providing men and women

with an advanced technical and vocational education and developing the

ability to create, either individually or in groups, new material goods and

new spiritual or aesthetic values; developing the necessary discernment

in using mass communication media, in particular radio, television,

cinema and the press, and interpreting the various messages addressed

to modern men and women by society.

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For one to be considered adults, he must have attained the age of 18 in

most climes, this calls for the emergence of lifelong learning.

If education is defined as lifelong education, and adult education

includes all processes of education, adult education and lifelong

education unite into a single reality. From this we can affirm that all

educational processes must be carried out within the context of lifelong

education or adult education.

This criterion on adult education, just like lifelong education, is found in

the 1976 Recommendation and marks the end of this second period.

If the full development of the human personality, particularly in view of

the rapid pace of scientific, technical, economic and social change,

education must be considered on a global basis and as a life-long

process, the development of adult education, in the context of life-long

education, is necessary as a means of achieving a more rational and

more equitable distribution of educational resources between young

people and adults, and between different social groups, and of ensuring

better understanding and more effective collaboration between the

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generations and greater political, social and economic equality between

social groups and between the sexes.

Lifelong education is the foundation of the complete educational

process. And with it, the concept of adult education penetrates into all

educational structures, which must all be specified as lifelong education:

Adult education as an integral part of life-long education [] must

constantly contribute to the renewal of educational methods, as well as

to the reform of educational systems as a whole.

Remedial Education is another criterion. This is the most common and

traditional form of continuing education. They are often called extra-

mural or evening classes, it is very easy to set up and very widespread

and loosely organized. They most offer general education curriculum

and are very flexible in operations and normally teach the same subjects

like the formal schools. The contact hours are mostly in the evening or

night and charge fees and more or less Non-governmental that is either

individual, Groups, associations and so on. They employ their teachers

mostly called Tutors and usually prepare their students for external

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examinations like West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination

(WASSCE), University and Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME),

Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), and the

Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) amongst others.

Vocational education is also another form of adult education. Their

curricula are basically occupational and skills oriented. There are some

instances where they prepare their students for external occupational

and professional examinations; but most offer their own certificates

whose standard, validity, for obtaining jobs are anything but guaranteed

e.g. computer literacy, Hotels and catering management, Sales and

Marketing and Tourist and Travel management. Professional education

is aimed at up-dating or topping up the knowledge, skills, and expertise

of practicing members of the concerned professions, with a view to

improve the quality of their service delivery. Typical examples are the

Medical, Engineering, Nursing, Accounting, Teaching professions to

mention but few. They offer this education through their association

meetings, organize ad-hoc seminars, workshops, and lectures and other

more systematic and more organized training schemes (Akinpelu, 2002)

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References

Brookfield, Stephen. Understanding and Facilitating Adult Learning.

Jossey-Bass, 1991. ISBN 1555423558

Castro, Claudio de Moura. "History of Vocational and Technical

Education," Encyclopedia of Education. The Gale Group, Inc.,

2002. Retrieved November 18, 2008.

Field, John. Lifelong Learning and the New Educational Order. Trentham

Books, 2006. ISBN 1858563461

Hiemstra, Roger, and Sisco, Burt. Individualizing Instruction: Making

Learning Personal, Empowering, and Successful. Jossey-Bass,

1990. ISBN 1555422551

Kidd, Alan J. Manchester (Town and city histories). Manchester,

England: Ryburn, 1993. ISBN 1853310166

Kilgour, Frederick. The Evolution of the Book. New York, NY: Oxford

University Press, 1998. ISBN 0195118596

Knowles, Malcolm Shepherd, Elwood F. Holton, and Richard A.

Swanson. The Adult Learner, Sixth Edition: The Definitive Classic

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in Adult Education and Human Resource Development.

Butterworth-Heinemann, 2005. ISBN 978-0750678377

Knowles, Malcolm Shepherd. Self-Directed Learning: A Guide for

Learners and Teachers. Cambridge Book Company, 1983 (original

1975). ISBN 0842822151

Knowles, Malcolm Shepherd. The Modern Practice of Adult Education:

From Pedagogy to Andragogy. Cambridge Book Company, 1988.

ISBN 978-0842822138

Lowden, Bronwyn. Mechanics' Institutes, Schools of Arts, Athenaeums,

etc.: An Australian Checklist. Donvale, Australia: Lowden

Publishing Co., 2007. ISBN 978-1920753078

Merriam, Sharan, B. & Brockett, Ralph, G.. The Profession and Practice

of Adult Education: An Introduction. Jossey-Bass, 2007, p. 7.

Smith, M. K. "Andragogy", The Encyclopaedia of Informal Education,

2008 (original 1996; 1999). Retrieved November 18, 2008.

Stubblefield, Harold W., and Patrick Keane. Adult Education in the

American Experience: From the Colonial Period to the Present.

Jossey-Bass, 1994
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UNESCO (2016). 3rd global report on adult learning and education: the

impact of adult learning and education on health and well-being,

employment and the labour market, and social, civic and

community life (PDF). Paris, UNESCO. p. 19. ISBN 978-92-820-

1213-0.

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